Tag Archive | SHOCK AND AWE

I feel so down. I believe my country is being destroyed. Every day, something new. Something awful every day. Posting on Facebook does nothing to help. I’ve found those who believe in most of the same things I believe in, and I’ve discovered those who think I’m a ‘hater’ or a loudmouth or ignorant of the facts or simply stupid for protesting. No matter how much back and forth we carry on, I haven’t changed my mind on any issue, and neither has anyone else.

Some people say, just ignore the news and get back to the fun stuff, the puppies and kittens and cute babies. While I agree that one can’t be consumed with anger all the time and survive, still, how can we be silent? I think that is what went wrong in Nazi Germany. Otherwise good folks were silent, they looked away. It’s too hard to be angry all the time, and besides, it can get you noticed and then people start calling you a ‘hater’ or a ‘n##ger lover’ or a ‘Commie’ or a ‘Jew’ (in the ugliest sense) or a ‘witch’ or any other derogatory label the mob comes up with to stifle your voice.

I believe in freedom. I believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I also believe that with these freedoms comes responsibility. To try to be the best one can be. To educate oneself and to be proud of being educated. To protect the weakest of us, even the ignorant, from the mean, bullying, cruel strong. To do whatever we can to ensure that everyone enjoys the same freedoms. To treat ourselves with respect, and to give that respect to others, to other nations, and to the earth. To leave no one behind, even if that means some personal sacrifice on our part. Isn’t this what the Constitution stands for? Isn’t this what we fought the Revolution for, the Civil War for, WWI and most significantly, WWII for? To stand up and declare what is right? To protest what is wrong and fight if necessary for what is right? Why did my father and mother endure the sacrifices of war, if not to fight to guarantee our freedoms for all of us? What has happened to that noble spirit?

I don’t know. All I know is that day after day, there is more news that tears down and cuts through what progress has been made to give everyone in our country equality and freedom. There are so many strikes coming so often, I feel overwhelmed and sad in the extreme. I guess that’s the strategy – shock and awe. But this time, it’s not bombs and it’s not in a foreign land. It’s shock and awe right in our own country, targeted at the psyches of those who dared to believe that, someday soon, the only thing that could hold one back in this great country of ours would be the content of one’s character.